The present invention relates to the manufacturing and repair of workpieces made from composite materials and, more particularly, to a device for the repair or manufacturing of a workpiece made from a composite material which applies pressure to the workpiece as a function of the temperature sensed from the workpiece.
Composite materials are gaining wider application and use as a material for aerospace, marine, automotive and other commercial applications. These components made from composite materials often require repair or replacement when in service. Economic considerations and the availability of replacement composite components versus the need to get an aircraft, other vehicle or equipment back in service may dictate whether a damaged composite component will be repaired or replaced.
Composite material components, such as those used in gas turbine engines for aircraft propulsion, are often subject to a replace or repair decision during use and/or routine maintenance or overhaul procedures. These components are often bulky with complex geometries which make them difficult to manipulate and to insert and remove from conventional fixed composite repair equipment or to apply conventional portable equipment. Additionally, conventional composite repair equipment is not universally adaptable to repair all of the various sizes and shapes of components, and the applicability of some repair equipment may be further limited by the severity of the damage to the component and the complexity of the repair required.
Portable equipment and repair methods are available for repairing components made of materials such as polyester, epoxy and hybrid molecular-based fibrous resin systems, but recently higher temperature organic matrix compounds are finding wider application, particularly in the aerospace industry for use in gas turbine engines for aircraft propulsion. These higher temperature organic compounds require higher temperatures for repair than the aforementioned materials and also my require multiple atmospheres of pressure to provide sound cross linking of the resin systems. Such materials my require temperatures up to about 900.degree. Fahrenheit and pressures up to about 250 psi. Additionally, in some repair applications it may be important to confine high temperature and pressure to a localized area of the composite part being repaired even through this part may have a small or a large and unwieldy geometry.
The equipment and techniques used to originally manufacture composite parts are typically massive four-post presses or specialized autoclave vessels and none of these devices lend themselves to portability and easy adaptability to repair work in the field and do not permit limited application of the high heat and pressure to a localized area of the component part under repair.
It is, accordingly, a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel device for manufacturing or repairing a workpiece made from a composite material which is not subject to the foregoing disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel device for manufacturing or repairing a workpiece made from a composite material wherein heat my be applied to either or both sides of the workpiece and the application of the heat is independently controlled by different programmable controllers which are programmed to apply the heat according to a predetermined schedule.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel device for manufacturing and repairing a workpiece made from a composite material wherein a compressive force is applied to the workpiece as a function of the temperature sensed from the workpiece.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel device for repairing a workpiece made from a composite material which permits limited application of heat and pressure to a localized area of the workpiece under repair.
These and other objects of the invention, together with features and advantages therefore, will become apparent from the following detailed specification when read with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to like elements.